Hamlin says car needs more work done before Chase
Denny Hamlin had a good weekend at Michigan International Speedway, even though he lost to Kevin Havrick in the end. Havrick’s win was impressive, but Hamlin was able to move up three spots in the standings to further solidify his position in the NASCAR Chase field.
Still, the runner-up finish proves that there is much work to be done before the No 11 has a shot at winning the Chase.
Hamlin, a Joe Gibbs Racing driver, led the Michigan race until Havrick overtook him in the 190th lap, but said afterwards that his car had electrical issues which hindered him Sunday.
“What cost us the most is, we had some electrical issues again with our race team," Hamlin said post-race. "You can probably look up in the last two years how many times I've said that. We just keep having the same problems. So I couldn't run any tire blowers, any brake fans, no [air conditioner] or anything to me. That's what really hurt us in the long run is not having cool tires. It beat us today.”
Hamlin also believes his No. 11 is at a disadvantage because it doesn’t have the same horsepower as Havrick’s Earnhardt Childress power plant. NASCAR is testing 16 engines this week at a development facility in Concord N.C., tests that will measure the chassis dynamometer so Hamlin could get some definitive answer on his suspicions.
Even if it Hamlin is correct that his car lacks the same horsepower, with three more races left before the Chase begins, that’s hardly enough time to whip up a new power plant. “We're not just going to up and make 50 more horsepower in three weeks," Hamlin said."That's a long process that happens. That's not the only place where I feel like we could be a little bit better.”
No doubt the team will still make improvements that will help them later during the Chase, but they might not be ready in time to get him a good position. Hamlin isn’t the only one who thinks the car wasn’t performing at its best.
Crew chief Mike Ford believes that the car needs work before it will achieve the results the team wants, “We’ve got more work to do than the rest of the field. If we don’t, we’re probably going to end up 11th or 12th.” Or worse, they might not make it into the top 12.
Hamlin already has a 50-point swing bonus for the Chase (every win in the regular season equals 10 additional points that will be added to a racer’s score when the Chase begins). He is third in the Cup standings, Havrick is first and Jeff Gordon is second. Hamlin is tied with Jimmie Johnson for most overall wins in a Sprint Cup tour but hasn’t been able to make the No.11 team look like a prime contender lately(He hasn’t had a win since the circuit’s last stop at Michigan back in June).
Despite their mechanical difficulties Hamlin crossed the finish line 1.731 seconds after Havrick, and overcame the electrical issues to pose a real chance to win. Furthermore he started in 33rd position and moved all the way up to runner up, and even Hamlin can acknowledge that was a good feeling, “You start 33rd and wind up second with a chance to win, that's a good day."
The only other thing the No.11 team needs to work on is qualifying time. In the last eight starts they have started a race inside the top 10 twice. “I said last year in Homestead after we won, in order to win the Chase next year, we are going to have to qualify better,” said Hamlin.
“Right now, we are just struggling so bad with qualifying. It takes us the entire race to get to the front. That's going to be a tough road to travel if we're going to try to win the championship."
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